The purpose of this work is to answer the question: “Can we generalize why some people were able to survive longer than others”? To survive the Gulag, many prisoners had to fight with others for food, shelter, and simple medical care. Some prisoners took religious and intellectual drugs to preserve at least the appearance of intelligence. Survival required willpower, fortitude, skill, ruthlessness and a lot of luck. Each former Gulag prisoner explained their survival as the result of many meaningless strategies. Numerous commentators have stated that the only reason they survived was due to their spiritual life. To distract themselves from physical suffering, many inmates created mental exercises: religious rituals, music, art, cards, chess and literature. The prisoners used to write and read poems to each other, tell stories, discuss philosophy and history. Under such harsh conditions, prisoners must have had extraordinary imaginations. To play cards or paint they had to use everything that was easy to hide from the constant raids on the barracks. The core of the tree was used as canvas and the blood was used as paint. The Soviet Union created a system that forced prisoners to constantly fight each other. Being imprisoned drove him to desperation. Many were pushed to commit acts they would never have done if held under normal conditions. Some hurt their hands, hoping to get rid of the hard work. The intelligentsia, a small intellectual part of the camp population, emphasized the significant role of literature, especially poetry. Nina Hagen-Thorn described situations in which she read poetry to her cellmates and they listened, as if they were the parched earth.... ..middle of paper......asked me to write a portrait of her wife and two children. He brought a photo of a very young woman and boys, who were about twelve and fourteen. Both he and his wife were satisfied with the portrait. He went on a business trip to Moscow, where he found my parents and informed them of my existence in the camp.” Alla Andreeva was released on August 13, 1956. After a short time her husband, Daniil Andreev, was also released. Nina Hagen-Thorn was born in St. Petersburg in 1901. Her father was Swedish and her mother was Russian. Before her arrest she worked as a researcher in one of the major Soviet research institutes. She was an ethnographer and was considered a candidate of historical sciences. Nina Hagen-Thorn spent five years from 1937 to 1942 in the Kolyma camp. In 1947 she was arrested again and sent to Temnikov camp.